Tarot: the Bad-Ass, Buxom Comic Book Witch – Field Guide Friday

One of the things that I love about Judika Illes is that she is an author (and individual) equally at home with both the arcane and the comic. She can wax poetic on medieval occult practices that only the most dedicated esoteric historian has ever heard of – then squee delightedly at what a blast she had at Comic-Con with her kids. She’s my kind of people.

Making her comic book debut in 2000. Tarot is the star of the Broadsword Comics series named in her honor. The very first issue of Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose was dedicated to the witches of the world. Tarot’s identity as a witch is crucial to the series and its plot.

Tarot stems from a long line of hereditary witches, some of whom were burned at the stake because, in Tarot’s words, “they were proud enough to call themselves witches.” Tarot, a member of the Black Rose coven, lives in Salem. She is a card-reading, spell-casting witch with a winged, black goblin-cat familiar named Pooka. Tarot is a beautiful, buxom redhead who is usually very scantily clad. The comic series is targeted for mature audiences, not children.